Not Before Me
by HaraKyri
Summary: Small dribbly vignette I wrote about Drake and Sully going into Ubar and the emotional event occurring there. Spoilers for UC3


_To try and kick myself out of the writer's block I've had for about three years I wrote this. Yes, I know it doesn't really have an ending, or any real structure, and yes I know I took a few liberties with the story (mainly because I forgot the actual dialogue and haven't been able to find clips of it.) Please don't judge me._

The city of Ubar was one of the most amazing things Victor Sullivan had ever seen, and he'd seen a lot of damn amazing things since he'd paired up with the kid. The feelings of awe the city provoked however, were shadowed by the sheer relief he felt knowing that Nate was alive. His own capture and imprisonment had been nothing compared to the thought that he'd lost Nate, first to that awful drug, seeing the terror in Nate's eyes as he'd realised that he was going to go crazy like Cutter... Then he heard that Nate had been captured by Marlowe. Sully hadn't put up much of a fight when they came for him, since he hoped he would see Nate again, until Marlowe gleefully informed him that the kid had been executed...

"Whoa, Sully! Check these out!" Nate had that excited squeak in his voice, as if he were that fifteen year old kid again. He was stood enthralled by the golden statues, which moved rigidly, changing positions in unison. Sully smiled, taking the chance to finally check over Nate's well-being. The kid had obviously had a rough few weeks, underneath the dust and sand his skin looked a helluva lot paler than usual, highlighting the sallow bags under his eyes. Not to mention the scratches and tears on his skin and clothes. His forearms were sunburnt, painfully so, and the way he held himself was different, as if he was in pain and determined not to show it. It would fool a lot of people, but Sully knew the signs, Nate was in a bad way, and was probably running on pure adrenaline at this point. Sully knew however, that telling him to stop and rest would be wasted breath, Nate would keep going until he collapsed, it was just who he was. Sully knew the only thing he could do was catch him when it happened.

They continued exploring the city cautiously. Sully palmed some shiny gold coins when he had the chance, he had an inkling that when the proverbial shit hit the fan (as it always did), he wouldn't have a chance to do some good ol' looting. Before long they came to a fountain, with what looked to be clear water pumping through it. Nate's eyes lit up and he eagerly went towards it and drank some, before Sully had the chance to verify it's purity. It was out of character, and Sully could only imagine how dehydrated Nate had to have been to have been so reckless.

"It's clean!" Nate announced happily, "Must have an underground spring, I bet that's how-" He stopped mid sentence, as if he'd forgotten what he was talking about. Sully cocked an eyebrow,

"You alright kid?" Nate shuddered slightly, then recovered himself, giving Sully a grin.

"Come on, let's keep going." They walked through the ancient buildings quickly, Nate kept a fast pace that Sully found himself struggling to keep up with, leaving him with no time to appraise the smaller treasures for their value. The two came out onto a platform overlooking what appeared to be an elevator. Sully spied Marlowe and Talbot inspecting the elevator and hissed,

"Get down!" He dropped to the floor, expecting Nate to follow suit, but he was stood stock still, his back to him. "Kid come on, get down!" Nate ignored him. Sully frowned, then grabbed Nate's wrist pulling him to face him. The expression on Nate's face struck him cold.

His face held an expression of such tortured grief it made Sully recoil. He'd never ever seen Nate look like that before, didn't even think that Nate could look like that. In the distance he heard the peal of Marlowe's laughter and he felt rage surge inside him. That bitch had done something to the kid, messed with his head again somehow. "Nate!" He shouted, jumping up and forcing Nate to face him, but the kid's wide eyes didn't focus on him, they were staring at something behind him. Then suddenly, as if electrocuted he came to life, backing up away from Sully.

"No, no, nononono..." He said, each word a stab in Sully's heart as he panicked, unsure what to do. He'd seen the same look of anguish on the faces of grieving families in the past and prayed he would never have to see it on Nate's, and his own heart broke in empathy. Then, as soon as it had come, Nate wiped the grief from his face, and became a statue of cold detachment. He pulled the SMG from the holster on his back and snarled, "I'll kill them" before taking off towards the elevator. Sully could only watch as his friend, his _son_ became a killing machine, heading to what was surely his own death.

"Not before me kid." Sully said, before withdrawing his handgun and following Nate into the firefight.


End file.
